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@Julianne welcome! Thanks for jumping right in and contributing; great thoughts.

@Corissa I love the idea of him being kind to the fairies. Great way to spin it.

But guys, guys— before we go any further I had a thought. I’ve been trying to think how we can better fulfill the prompt, moving on from the story and developing an engaging voice (great points there, @noahlitle— thank you) and I keep coming back to what @Samuel said about an unreliable narrator.

Here’s my thing— what if this child is supposed to be a little ‘off his rocker’ and he has just one really good fire pixie friend… but everybody else says fire pixies don’t exist, and the reader doesn’t know whose perspective is the true one? Everyone says the fire pixie is an illusion; a hallucination, and the tug-o-war between ‘grown ups’ and children could be centered around that one question the whole story— do fire pixies exist? That takes the focus off whether or not he chooses to move on in the end, which would be tricky to maneuver and still give complete catharsis.

So our character is led by his fire pixie friend to stop the assassination and warn the king, but maybe in the end the pixie sacrifices himself somehow (the little chimneysweep finds scattered pieces of coal with all their fire and shape gone, and thinks the pixie died) but from the grown-up perspective there never was a pixie in the first place?

We could give the story an open ending. Never really answer the question, but let the reader decide who they believe.

Sort of like an imaginary friend deal. This character is so lonely, and has such a huge imagination, that it’s entirely possible he made up this whole thing to keep himself company and now believes it’s real… but you don’t quite know for sure.

Noah, I’ve been studying voice in-depth lately and I don’t know a ton yet, but in my experience it’s something that comes once you begin writing, though it’s definitely shaped by the story arc, the character’s longings, etc.

What do you people think?

@raemarie @mcnoggin @cindy @kate @elizabeth @girlsetfree @theresa-play @r-m-archer @literatureforthelight @livgiordano @lady-iliara @m_corinnemusic @j-parkhurst @gabbyj @sierra @cassandraia @chalice @samuel